Tangled
by Jaegerbombastic
Summary: Ariel Silvers knew his name would be called eventually during District Four's Reaping,even though it was the last year with his name in drawing. Finnick, his best and closest friend will be his mentor and guide, but the tension between then only pushes them apart. Now Ariel has to fight for his life while trying to keep the only true friend he's ever had.
1. Chapter 1

Tangled; mermaid against the tide

Foamy waves licked at Ariel Silvers' bare feet, tickling his toes with its cool touch. His fingers drew spirals of varied shapes and sizes into the sand, creating snail-less shells. Tiny rocks found themselves clinging to his nails and the torn cuffs of his shirt, refusing to let go until he emerged his hands into the water. He was posed dangerously, unbalanced on his hands and feet, his back bent in an arc. The wind, if it kicked up a notch, would probably blow him over. Even the softest of whispers could send him tumbling into the water.

"Ariel! Ariel whatever your last name is!"

Strands of long red hair created a blindfold as he fell, the shallow water tossing about the hair that had taken all morning to dry. He landed on his butt, his hands scraping against throwing rocks as he tried desperately to catch himself. His knees and head poked out of the water, the rest devoured by waves. He normally wouldn't mind taking a dip in District 4's clear waters, but Reaping Day was an exception. Especially when it was Finnick Odair, a previous victor, that was the cause of his second bath of the day.

"Finnick, you bastard," Ariel cursed as he pushed tangled hair away from his face, his big blue eyes focusing on the man who couldn't seem to stop laughing. He rubbed the palms of his hands against his shorts, wiping away the few droplets of blood that seeped through the sore skin. It took him a few tries to stand, much to Finnick's amusement, but once he was finally up, he threw himself at the other, punching his shoulders with 1/4th of his strength. "I'm going to be late because of you."

Finnick held his hands up to protect himself, but the laughs kept rolling off of his lips. His attempts to block Ariel's punches were weak at best and eventually the younger boy gave up. For which he was thanked with the picking of seaweed from his hair. "You're like a mermaid, Ariel. That would be your concept if you ever got chosen from the Games. It's a good thing you're sad."

"Don't say that," Ariel whined and rolled over to lay on the warm sand The shadow of a seagull fell over his body as it passed overhead, flying seemingly low enough that he would have touched it with a high jump. If reincarnation was real, he'd want to be a bird in the next -free. "You're going to jinx me."

"Sorry, but I don't think it'll be you. Ariel...And I know you said you didn't care if you go, since you've got no one to win for, but...what about all these pretty girls? They'll be devastated to hear that you're leaving."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend. Ariel, although his hair made him seem female, was one of the most handsome men in District 4. He was probably number 4 on the kiss list made by the upper class school girls. Finnick Odair was number 1.

"They'll have to live with broken hearts." he replied, a little smile curving the corners of his mouth. It was kind of nice to think that someone besides his closest friend would miss him, even if they valued him for his looks.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, both aware of the time ticking by. They would have to leave soon, separate and go different ways. They'd meet up after and celebrate the end of a cycle that he would have to do no more. He'd need a career then. Perhaps he could use his hook making skills that he learned from Mags to do something with his life.

"You never told me about your father," Finnick said suddenly, shocking Ariel, who wasn't expecting him to bring up the past. "There are no blue eyed men in District 4."

"I'll tell you later." There was no point in hiding anything from the person he trusted most, even if that person had become the Capital's lapdog. "One way or another, by the end of the Reaping, you'll know."


	2. Chapter 2

There was no time to run home and and change. Ariel settled on rolling the legs of his trousers and switching shirts with Finnick, who lived in the Victor's Village, not even a five minute walk from the beach. He took a few minutes to try to pull bits of seaweed from his tangle of hair, but it had proven to be a tedious and time wasting task. Several looks had been directed to him by boys his age when he walked past them to get into his place. His pants were damp and he must have smelled like seawater, not always the most pleasant thing. A few pat his shoulder, giving him friendly support. They were all anxious, ready to be completely done with the Games.

As the annual speech played, Ariel's eyes scanned the stage in search of Finnick, wondering if he had been able to make it back in time. Sure enough, he best friend was sitting next to the mayor, staring back at him with his green eyes. He had exchanged Ariel's thin white shirt for another button up and a suit jacket that was probably tailored just for him. He couldn't help but wonder what the Peacekeepers would do if the two of them started making faces at each other while President Snow rambled on. The thought of same action during a Reaping sent his mind spinning into a fantasy world.

'Pay attention,' Finnick mouthed and subtly pointed to the stage, where Caligula had just finished announcing the female tribute: Coral Watters. Ariel felt a stab in his heart. He had spoken to Coral on several occasions and found her to be the least annoying of the females in his class. He would attach himself to her siblings if she died, offering them as much comfort as he could.

Caligula waited for Coral to make her way up the stage and to her place before addressing the already grieving members of District 4.

"And now, for the male tribute..." She reached into the glass bowls of names and pulled one from the very bottom, unfolding it slowly. "Silk Silvers! Wait...What? Is there a Silk Silvers here?"

His real name. He had never thought that he would hear it against, not so many times as the crowd murmured to each other, each of them wondering who the boy with the District 1 name was. Perhaps he could wait it out, pretend that it wasn't his name, because his legs would not move from the spot. Fear. He was feeling fear.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the mayor stand. He made his way to Caligula to whisper something in her ear.

"Ariel?" She asked questioningly as he stepped out of the group of males.

The walk up the stage was one that couldn't be described in words. His emotions were mixing, tangling in a net. Nervous-everyone's eyes were on him. Fear-the end of his life was roughly a week away. Devastation-he had been almost free of the games. Anger-he wanted to strangle Caligula for picking his name. And once again fear-the look in Finnick's eyes was one that he couldn't decode.

"Well, well, look how pretty the both of you are," Caligula cooed at the audience, even as she was pulling a thin strand of seaweed off of his shoulder. "Let's have a round of applause for our two tributes."

Before they could even think of clapping, Ariel stepped towards Coral and stuck his hand out. She was weary, waiting a couple of seconds before placing her small hand in his slightly larger one and gave it a gentle shake. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could say goodbye to District 4 forever.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the tributes of District 4: Ms. Coral Watters and Mr. Silk Silvers."


	3. Chapter 3

Ariel didn't need to say goodbye. Several classmate had come to see him off

and he offered him reassuring words, promising that he'd try his best. It felt silly to try to comfort them when he was the one whose blood would be used for the entertainment of the Capitol. Arill, he kept up appearances, and when it was all finally over, he locked himself up in his room on the train, not wanting to talk to Coral, Caligula, or Finnick. He was not in the mood to answer any questions-especially those about his father or the Games.

A long shower provided him with much needed peace and quiet. He left the hot water burn away his worries, if only for a moment. He stayed in there longer than he meant to; a knock on the door sounded outside the bathroom door as soon as he stepped out of the tub. He tugged his pants to his waist and rolled up the legs before answering.

"We're going to have a meeting with lunch," Coral muttered, her eyes shyly lowering to the floor. It was as if she couldn't look at him-at least, not while he was shirtless.

He quickly grabbed a black shirt and pulled it over his head. He offered her a small smile, decided that he might as well be nice while they were still neutral. "Lead the way."

Caligula and Finnick sat on opposite sides of the square table with trays of food Ariel had never seen and pitchers of drinks he had never were chatting-or at least Caligula was while Finnick cut away at a piece of meat that didn't seem to appetizing to took the seat next to Finnick and Ariel plopped into the one besides Caligula, who quickly told them to pick up a plate and eat.

His eyes scanned over the table, looking for something familiar that he could chew on for the time being. Coral's plate was filled inch to inch with colorful fruits and cheeses, while the last seaweed role sat on his. His poor excuse for a meal caught Finnick's eye and he was soon filling it with delicates that were no doubt too luxurious for him.

"Try the food of your District," Finnick told him, the slightest touch of bitterness in his voice. He plunged a fork into a tender piece of meat. "Rabbit that melts in your mouth."

Caligula chimed in before Ariel, ticked at his friend's sudden treatment, could make a nasty remark. "It's simply heaven, Silk. You have to try everything. Look at Coral. The dear knows how to eat!"

Coral hesitantly picked a pear out of a bowl and wiped it with a napkin before holding it out to him. "Silk? You have to eat at least one." When he took the yellow green fruit, she smiled like she did when they were alone. "It's going to be weird calling you Silk now."

"No, it's okay to call me Arie-"

"Silk Silvers is going to give people the wrong impression," Finnick cut in. "Silk-the tribute of two districts. I'm sure the Capitol is having a fun time with that Silk, the product of star crossed lovers. Or so I'm guessing. What's the truth, Sil-"

"Stop calling me that!"

Ariel's voice echoed off the train walls, ringing in his ears several times before dying down. His hands slammed against the able and now the palms were stinging, probably red from the impact. His eyes were locked with the green ones of the man he had once called his best friend and neither would look away until Caligula intercepted.

"Now isn't the time to be fighting," she chimed, her voice lighter than it should be in his sort of situation. "You've frightened poor Coral. "

Ariel looked over at the female tribute and nearly laughed. If there was one thing that he had learned about the seemingly shy girl, it was that she liked a good fight. He felt a bit moronic for worrying earlier. She'd be fine. The girl could skin and debone a fish in less than five minutes.

Begrudgingly, Ariel pushed his chair and plate closer to Caligula, wanting to be as far from Finnick as possible. But but doing that, he had forced himself to endure the questioning of their escort.

"There's no doubt that Ceasar is going to ask you this, so we might as well get it out of the way. How did you end up with a District 1 name?"

The only question that not even he knew the true answer to. His mother had come in 8th in her Hunger Games, when he had only been 1. His father had never really been in the picture and instead he was raised by his uncle. The story he had been told was one if romance-and death.

Glow Silvers had been a peace keeper at the time he had met Molly Shore. It had been his dream ever since he first saw one as a boy. He was assigned to District 4 by chance.

His mother, Molly, was 17 at the time and the daughter of a fisherman. She was nothing special-except to Glow. It had been her smile that he fell for and half a month after they met, Ariel was conceived.

The Peacekeeper stayed around long enough to see his son born and, he himself the son of the late mayor, was allowed to name his son as he pleased. Month's before the child's first birthday, Glow disappeared, never to be seen in District 4 or 1 again. Uncle Ermin had assumed that he had gotten reassigned but Ariel wasn't so sure about that.

He wasn't old enough to watch his mother die, but he had heard stories when he asked his uncle. Still, he had never wanted to watch the tapes-not even to get the upper hand.

By the end of his story, he had three pairs of eyes staring at them. Coral held an expression that screamed interest. She was a bundle of different traits that made up her strange personality : romantic, shy, violent on occasion, and he was looking forward to blood thirsty. He didn't care about anyone else at that moment. All he wanted to do was take the tiny brown haired girl aside to create a kick ass battle plan. Not that we could at a time like this.

"We have allies," Caligula said in sing song voice, her surgically altered violet eyes bright with excitement. She pulled at a springy blonde curl and clapped her hands together. "District 1 and perhaps 2 2ill be interested in you, if only for your blood." The look of distaste on his face made her quickly add, "your birth blood, not spilled blood."

"Only problem is that he can't do anything." This time there was no venom in Finnick's voice. In fact, Ariel almost wished that it was so that his statement wasn't true. "I've tried to teach him how to use a trident, but he's clumsy."

"Then let's not focus on me." Ariel said quickly, tapping his fork against his clean plate. He hadn't even realized that he had been eating. "What about Coral? She's going to need your help too."

"We've already figured it out," Finnick told him with one of those teasing grins that made him believe that there hadn't been a fight less than fifteen minutes ago. "While you were showering, we realized that she's great with a knife. Not that it was a big surprise."

Ariel's shoulders fell and he let out a deep sigh, not wanting everyone's attention on how pathetic he was when it came to fighting. He could see Coral almost smiling boastfully at him from across the table. His foot kicked out, connecting lightly with her knee. Her ghostly smile turned into a scowl and she tried to get back at him. He was glad that this sixteen year old was his companion in the Games.

"What are you good at?" Coral asked, getting revenge in a way that he couldn't dodge. "You have to be good at something."

Caligula waved her napkin, saving him from coming up with a retort. She pushed her plate away from the edge of the table and dabbed at her mouth. "We can find out when you're training. I think it's time to settle something now: concepts! Silk, you'd make a handsome young man once we cut your hair."

Ariel grabbed a fistfull of his long hair, bunching up the strands at the back of his head, but the feeling of even having fake short hair disturbed him. It had taken him all of his life to grow it to that length, which was longer than Coral's by at least thirteen inches. How could he ever chop off the hair he had grown to love?

"We promised to make him a mermaid," Finnick joked and winked at the younger boy a wink. "With pearls in his hair and a coral crown. We can get both of them in on this."

"Sounds good to me," Coral agreed, much to Ariel's dismay. She stood as an avox came over to clear their plates. "Im going to get some rest before tomorrow. Goodnight Finnick, Caligula, and...Silk."

"Don't call me that," he groaned, but she was already out of earshot. He sunk his teeth into a peach as Caligula announced that she would be following Coral. He waited until even the aox girl was gone before speaking. "You're a bastard."


End file.
